Berkeley Unified School District families in need will qualify for a free summer meal program, according to an announcement by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell today (Monday).
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At a special closed-door session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Berkeley City Council, on the advice of its attorney, could vote to go to court to stop a proposed ballot measure that would “require voter approval before dedicating Berkeley streets or lanes for transit-only or HOV/bus-only use.”
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Although some members of Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission expressed concern about fencing the historic Sutcliff Picnic Rock in North Berkeley, there appears little they can do to prevent it.
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UC Berkeley has picked four companies to bid on the new Berkeley Art Museum, the structure that is likely to become the architecturally most striking and controversial feature of the city center.
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Amanda Tierney, 21, better known as Dumpster Muffin, was among the three tree sitters to leave their perches at UC Berkeley’s Memorial Grove on Wednesday. After the intervention of her doctor, paramedics took her to Highland Hospital.
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More than 60 people came to the open session before the Berkeley City Council’s closed meeting Monday to urge the council to “do what’s right” by standing up to UC Berkeley and appealing the judge’s final decision in the lawsuit on the sports training/stadium issue if it goes against the city.
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A tree-sitter collapsed moments after climbing down from her perch at the UC Berkeley oak grove, and campus police initially refused to allow a doctor in to examine the ailing woman, known as Dumpster Muffin.
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The Berkeley Board of Education picked “Curvy Derby” as its preferred option for the Berkeley Unified School District’s East Campus field last week, but acknowledged that the district lacks the funds necessary to build it.
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Cody’s Books was taken off life support June 20, taking its place in the beloved bookstore graveyard next to A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Avenue Books, Mama Bear’s, A Woman’s Place Bookstore and others.
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In this photo are the remains of one of some 200 trees removed by the City of Oakland from the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center parking lot, the 12th Street median between the convention center and Lake Merritt and the Lake Merritt Channel. In the background is the Kaiser Convention Center, which the Oakland City Council closed a year ago in a cost-cutting measure. The tree removal, which took place in mid-June, is part of the multimillion dollar Measure DD renovation of the eastern Lake Merritt grounds that will eventually result in a shrinking of the 12th Street-14th Street corridor from 12 lanes to six, the creation of a four-acre park, and the connection of Lake Merritt with the convention center grounds by a pedestrian walkway bridge. Last October, an Alameda County Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Lake which had challenged the City of Oakland’s procedures in condemning the trees.
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Declaring that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) “looks to me like a huge development scheme,” Berkeley Planning Commissioner Patti Dacey said last week she couldn’t cast a vote without more information about its potential impacts.
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Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums sought to put an end to the City Hall phase of the Deborah Edgerly controversy this week, firing the Oakland city administrator in a terse letter delivered late Tuesday.
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After searching for almost six years for a new animal shelter site—one large enough for the animals and where barking dogs won’t raise the ire of sleeping neighbors—it looks like the city has found the right location.
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The AC Transit Board of Directors temporarily put the brakes on the district’s recent push to transform a large portion of its fleet into buses made by Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool, rejecting a request by District Manager Rick Fernandez to replace 30 retiring 60-foot buses made by New Flyer with 19 new buses made by Van Hool.
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Oakland architect and public transit advocate Joyce Roy announced plans last week to run against AC Transit Board President Chris Peeples for Peeples’ at-large board seat in the November election, setting up a probable electoral clash over the transit district’s controversial Van Hool bus policy.
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Only a handful of employees remain on Berkeley Unified School District’s list of classified personnel who have active layoff notices due to the proposed education budget cuts, according to district officials.
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Plans to renovate Aquatic Park have environmentalists and some members of the Parks Commission’s Aquatic Park Subcommittee concerned about the city’s motives and the plan’s potential ramifications.
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The Berkeley City Council asked the Public Works department last week to retest the piles of sludge that have been lying next to the Aquatic Park lagoon for the last eight months and explore options for its reuse, citing expenses for its removal as prohibitive.
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